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The Weird Week in Review

Dairy Princess is Lactose-intolerant

Laurel Gordon holds the title of Grays Harbor County's Dairy Ambassador and is competing for the post of Washington State Dairy Ambassador for the coming year. The requirements of the job are experience on a dairy farm or with dairy cows, a neat appearance, and residency in Washington state. There is no requirement that the contestant actually drink milk. Gordon is lactose-intolerant! She says she misses dairy products since she lost her ability to digest milk only two years ago. Gordon grew up on a dairy farm, and her sisters have also held the title of "Dairy Princess." If she wins the state title in June, she'll receive a $7,000 scholarship.

Woman Shoots Washer, Home Flooded

An unnamed estranged husband and wife were the focus of a police call in St. Lucie County, Florida. They had gotten together for an evening and the husband was cooking on the outside grill. The couple also engaged in target practice and fired shots inside the house. The wife called 911 when she began to think her husband was shooting too close to her. At least one shot from the woman hit the washing machine, causing metal shards to cut into her leg. The washer leaked and flooded the floor with water.

Asked to write a sworn statement, she said, "I'll try my best but I'm drunk."

Police confiscated all the guns, and told the couple to stay away from each other.

Three Albino Raccoons Found

A homeowner in Toronto called a wildlife control company when he saw a unidentified white animal in the garage. Brad Gates of Gates Wildlife Control thought it might be a skunk from the description. The crew found a litter of four raccoons -three of them albinos! The kits appeared to be somewhere around six to eight weeks old. Gates said that his company, in business for 27 years, had only seen albino raccoon kits twice, and in each case there was only a sole albino in a litter. Albino wild animals are rare because they are easy for predators to spot. The litter was put in a box and relocated to the roof of the house, where the mother raccoon could retrieve them.

Woman Attacked Roommate with Butter

Police in Collier County, Florida responded to a domestic disturbance call and found evidence of a food fight. Sheriff's deputies confronted Dawn Elizabeth Rhash, who allegedly threw butter at her male roommate in an argument over who owned the food items in the home. The police report noted that the victim had butter on his ankle. Alcohol may have been involved.

Drug Deal Pocket-dials Police

If you are involved in illegal activities, it only makes sense to not have 911 on speed dial. An emergency dispatcher in Hall County, Georgia, received a call in which she heard a conversation about a drug deal. Police traced the cell signal to a Waffle House location. When they arrived, they heard another policeman's voice coming from the pocket of 18-year-old Daniel Moore, whose phone had apparently "pocket-dialed" 911. The connection was still open when he was confronted by police at the scene. Moore was arrested for possession of prescription drugs.

Man Blew Up Like a Balloon

A 48-year-old truck driver was the victim of a bizarre accident in New Zealand that reads like a classic cartoon script.

Steven McCormack was standing on his truck's foot plate Saturday when he slipped and fell, breaking a compressed air hose off an air reservoir that powered the truck's brakes.

He fell hard onto the brass fitting, which pierced his left buttock and started pumping air into his body.

"I felt the air rush into my body and I felt like it was going to explode from my foot," he told local media from his hospital bed in the town of Whakatane, on North Island's east coast.

"I was blowing up like a football," he said. "I had no choice but just to lay there, blowing up like a balloon."

Cat Raising Baby Chicks

A farmer in China noticed something really strange about his cat. She doesn't eat chicken. Instead, Niu Niu has taken 30 young chicks under her wing (so to speak), and even licks them clean. Lao Yang of Heilongjiang Province said when he saw the cat was in the chicks' box, he was sure the cat would eat them. But Niu Niu was playing with the babies, and they were climbing over her. He now trusts the cat to protect the chicks from harm. The chicks have bonded with Niu Niu, and follow her everywhere.

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Also on Mental Floss:

DID YOU KNOW? Marlon Brando hated memorizing lines so much that he posted cue cards everywhere to help him get through scenes.
He even asked for lines to be written on an actress's posterior. (That request was denied.)